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Board candidate recruitment ideas

Posted by Paul Haggett on April 1, 2022 at 5:24pm

Hi everyone!

We have two board vacancies in our district this year, and so far, the only two candidates to circulate petitions are a former and a current district administrator.  I'm concerned this may not be a good mix for our board.

Does anyone have any tips on attracting quality candidates to run for the board?  Would it be out of line for me as board President to write a letter to the editor encouraging folks to consider running? Problem is, time is tight!

 

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Replies

  • Mary Franklin May 2, 2022 at 8:09am
    We have the opposite problem. We have 4 seats to fill (3 3-year seats and 1 1-year) and we have 11 candidates running! As one of the incumbents running for reelection, I am very worried that the anti-public education movement is growing in our area. Any suggestions to help the three incumbents get reelected.
  • Sarah Carrier April 3, 2022 at 3:40pm
    Hi Paul, Agree with the other suggestions; we also hold Q&A sessions (usually ahead of BOE meetings) so that people can come learn more about Board service. Last year we also recorded a couple of videos with current and former Board members discussing their experiences.
  • Paul Haggett April 2, 2022 at 11:57am
    I have reached out to our school level parent groups. Thank you for your suggestions!
  • Karen Burka April 2, 2022 at 11:43am
    Hi Paul. Board elections are going to be interesting this May! Agree with Kerry Wachter's ideas -- look to your PTA/PTO leaders, community members of some of your district committees (Audit, Policy, etc.). I think it would be appropriate for the board president to encourage people to run publicly -- If it were me, I'd probably run it by my board first. Good luck.
  • Kerry Wachter April 1, 2022 at 7:16pm
    Candidate pools are usually your PTA, members of your citizen advisory committees, local volunteer groups like Little League, Scouts, CYO, etc. People who already serve the community and hopefully have children in the schools are the most likely people to run.
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